Man Accused of Swiping $2.8M in ... Textbooks

Salesman used scheme to steal 16K books, say cops

(Newser)
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Quick, what's the most you've ever stolen from an employer? If your answer was less than $2.8 million, you are probably a better employee than Christopher Brock, a 44-year-old textbook salesman for John Wiley & Sons who was arrested in Tampa this week for allegedly swiping 16,000 textbooks. Police say Brock used Wiley's computer system to designate the books as free samples, then sent them to various "professors" who lived at his home address and other addresses he controlled, reports NJ.com. Brock would then sell the books, taking money through PayPal, authorities say. Now he faces up to 20 years in prison—so, on the bright side, he'll have lots of time to study.

This would be the tiniest fraction of the books the John Wiley allegedly stole. You know, if it weren't stock art.
(Shutterstock)

I lack the talent to do what this guy did. I would be fascinated to hear the details of how he presented himself as a rightful seller; how he found buyers; how he communicated with buyers; why most people did not find just the method of payment suspect; how much did he net and over what period of time; and did he have overhead

wasntme

Jun 22, 2013 1:59 AM CDT

If he started when he was 20yrs old. That is probably be about 2 or 3 books a month at the New Textbook Bookstore Price. Maybe Christopher is not the primary thief in this scheme.

Blueluck

Jun 21, 2013 11:59 PM CDT

$2,800,000 in textbooks. So those will get him about $42 at the college book store, right?

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